In general, a slow descending device is extensively used as an emergency escape device. A stairway or an elevator cannot be used when an emergency situation such as fire or the like occurs in a high-rise building such as an apartment, a hotel or a hospital. In order to cope with this situation, the slow descending device is installed in a window or a porch. The slow descending device is a safety escape mechanism designed to enable an evacuee to slowly descend along a descending rope by his or her weight. In other words, the slow descending device has been developed to enable safe escape of evacuees in the event that the evacuees cannot escape through a typical doorway due to fire and so forth. Evacuees of all ages and sexes can escape to the bottom floor of a high-rise building by getting on the slow descending device, fastening a seat belt and allowing the slow descending device to descend by the weight of the evacuees.
The conventional emergency escape device is used in the following manner. In the event of an emergency situation, an evacuee holds a slow descending device and a reel and moves toward a window or a porch. The evacuee fastens a clamp of the slow descending device to an anchor fixed to a building. After fastening a seat belt connected to one end of a rope, the evacuee throws the reel out of the building so that the rope wound on the reel can be unwound. In this state, the evacuee jumps down from a porch or a window. Since the rope is slowly unwound by the slow descending device, the evacuee hanging on the rope through the seat belt can slowly descend and can make a safe landing on the ground floor.
However, the conventional emergency escape device has a problem in that two or more evacuees cannot successively escape using the slow descending device installed in one escape space. If one of the evacuees uses the emergency escape device, the remaining evacuees have to wait until the seat belt comes back to the original position. This makes it difficult for the evacuees to successively and rapidly escape from a building.
In case of the conventional emergency escape device, a rope is used for an evacuee to descend from an upper stair to the ground floor. This poses a problem in that, under the influence of wind or for other causes, the evacuee may collide with a building wall, a signboard or a window frame and may get injured.